Chapter 1085: Awakening, A Myriad of Changes (IV)

Within an ancient city in Silver Moon.

“There’s word from Watercloud that the replicas we sent out before have all fallen to Li Hao,” someone said. “He’s forced the four nations into retreat, but does not strike back at them with his full force. Is he doing this on purpose, or does he not have the strength to fight four sides at the same time?

“The Great Li king has returned to his nation to hunt down members of the three great organizations. Ying Hongyue has also sent word through special means that he wishes to receive some support. He’s found the origin of the Forbidden Sea in Great Li.

“There are apparently large ripples forming there that might be able to release unlimited energy. It will hasten the awaken. Should we aid him? Or should we have the Great Li king return to Skystar...

“Also, the desolate beasts have encroached upon the world in Barren Dynasty and devoured the world’s energy. We have an option of bringing our full force against them and eliminating the desolate beasts. Not only will that win recognition from the heavens, but it will outright start the second awakening...

“In addition, the west also wishes us to send reinforcements to help them strike back at Li Hao! The west is strong and can just barely manage to awaken Saint-level divine spirits. Granted, they must pay an enormous price to do so. Can we ensure that the four sides reach an agreement to jointly attack Skystar? Li Hao can stop one side, but he will not be able to stop all four.”

“There’s been some movement in Silver Moon,” another person continued the train of reports. “Li Hao’s master Yuan Shuo is personally leading a team to visit the other cities. He hopes to converse with the Hongs, Zhengs, and Lius in order to sign a basic agreement—a declaration of intent. Do we continue to bide our time or... show ourselves to placate them?”

Question upon question was thrown out to an impassive man in the center of the hall.

“Facilitating an alliance between the four sides is of utmost importance,” he said after a while. “Send people to the four nations as soon as possible! Second, send people to help Ying Hongyue. It will greatly benefit the world’s awakening if he can break the Forbidden Sea. However, keep ourselves in check to ensure that we do not clash with the Great Li king!

“Third, assist the four nations with more replicas. But be careful not to be killed by them in return. None of those leaders are benevolent people. In fact, I suspect that Great Li might be involved in the deaths of the replicas sent to help them!

“Fourth, we need to have two plans in motion when it comes to the Barren Dynasty. Firstly, we’ll help them invade. Secondly, we will eliminate them!” the man pronounced softly. “However, with the desolate beasts involved... The beasts are strong when physically situated in chaos—they’re even on par with Saints in that domain!

“Therefore, we should focus on partnering with Barren first. At the same time, we must be ready to turn on them at any time. The desolate beasts are not intelligent. If we can secretly set up our people and surround the beasts with an army, then we might be able to kill them!

“Fifth, we can open channels of communication with Yuan Shuo! We can even declare our intentions and sign an agreement. Li Hao needs the agreement to confirm our identities, but we will not satisfy his desire!

“Sixth, after the four nations reach a simple accord, we will immediately set our plans in motion and attack Silver Moon on all sides! Li Hao needs time, so do we. We will not give him that time!

“Seventh, continue to investigate the Red Moon world’s stronghold. Ying Hongyue might know a bit about this. They’ve been so quiet lately that no one’s taken note of them. We must be on guard as they might ambush the Moon God of the west. The Moon God fell silent long ago, and it is only recently that we’ve learned that this age’s Divine Nation queen is the second generation of the Moon God!”

The Moon God in the west!

“Can the Moon God really manipulate the moon in Silver Moon’s skies?” asked an astonished person.

“She can!” nodded the man. “The Sword Sovereign personally killed the first generation Moon God because that divine spirit is a key to controlling the minor world. We’d thought that the Moon God wouldn’t be able to resurrect since it was an exalted emperor that killed him. But that was not the case. If it wasn’t for Li Hao’s advances forcing her to utilize the strength of Silver Moon, we wouldn’t know either that the queen is the resurrected Moon God!”

“Then we must be careful. Those from Red Moon stationed in this world might be keeping their eyes on that one...”

“Indeed!” nodded the man. “They seem to have disappeared from this world lately, but they will certainly never be willing to lay low. The Moon God is one reason, the second may lie with Ying Hongyue. That fellow is running around the minor world these days and used to work hand-in-hand with them. That he’s contacting us again lately means there might be some problems that have cropped up with their partnership.”

“Understood!” nodded the people standing beneath him.

“But milord,” one of them said awkwardly. “We’re reaching our limits of people we can send out if Red Moon world doesn’t help us.”

“Are the other main cities unwilling to show themselves lately?” asked the man after a moment of silence. “Think of a way to contact those who have gone dark. See if they can offer some help. Of course, maintaining cover is of utmost priority!”

“Understood! Then, should we activate our agents at Battle Heaven? That city is too close to Li Hao...”

“Let’s not for now.” The man shook his head after some thought. “Battle Heaven is in such close contact with Li Hao that we will easily expose ourselves in a mouton of carelessness. Maintain a holding pattern there for future plans!”

“Understood!” People rushed to carry out his orders.

The man continued his contemplation after the hall emptied and suddenly sighed. A shadow walked out from his body and quickly solidified as a person. “Perhaps... I should go out and take a look myself!” he murmured.

The shadow flickered and quickly appeared at the ruin exit. He walked out and emerged in the outside world.

The world seemed to tremble, as if it sensed something. The shadow lifted its head to the sky with a mix of emotions and flew toward Silver City after a long moment. It’d been too long since he last set foot in the world. Where was Li Hao now?

Perhaps he had to meet Li Hao in person to understand him better.

And not only Li Hao, but the one sealed by Silver City. Apparently Zhang An had also recovered. Could he see the Evenround dean as well?

A variety of thoughts manifested in the man’s heart. He took stock of the world’s strength. Based on this rate of recovery, it would require the second awakening for Immortals to walk the world again soon.

......

At this moment, in Skystar Town.

Thunder roared and lightning crackled! The Hao Cosmos seemed to hover in the ruins. Various avenues of core origin dao ran through the world and entered the dao universe. Zhang An seemed to observe something from his glimpse of the universe and looked solemnly at Li Hao.

Was the young man... organizing the dao universe? He could clearly see some sections laid out in the starry expanse!

They weren’t too clear to the eye, but seeing as Li Hao was crafting the bodies and opening passages much faster and easier than before, perhaps this was really what was taking place!

What grandiose ambitions! Did Li Hao truly seek to be master of the myriad of daos in the Hao Cosmos?

Li Hao glanced to the side and smiled bashfully when Zhang An looked at him. The man blinked. There was.... nothing he could say after being greeted with that smile.

Fifteen powerhouses roared in unison! Motes of light lit up in their bodies as acupoints were cleared in rapid succession. They were equipped with the basic thirty-six dao meridians, as well as the body dao meridian and an element attributed one. That made for thirty-eight total dao meridians.

The body dao meridian was all too easy to open for these powerhouses who’d attained golden bodies back in the day. Some of them had even reached the Immortal level with their golden bodies. They opened that dao meridian in the blink of an eye and turned their attention to the unattributed dao meridians.

The group absorbed large sums of energy; there were some women among them. When Li Hao looked at one of them, she rebuked, “Please show some respect, commander!”

“......” Li Hao half rolled his eyes.

I created your body, you know? I shaped them out of blood, flesh, and energy. You guys are just bloody masses in my eyes. No matter how good looking you are, you’re an artificial construct. What am I supposed to show respect for? I can form a thousand of you if I wanted!

“Cultivate well,” the young man said softly in the depths of his wordlessness. “Don’t think too much. Also, you’re looking a bit uncoordinated, Jiang Yingli. It might be because your new body is too different from your old one. Are you having any problems...”

“She’s at least one-third skinnier than before, of course she’s uncoordinated!” cackled one of the students.

“Bullshit!”

“Jiang Yingli, it’s not like we’ve forgotten the past. Your act would fly if we had. If you Jiangs aren’t fat, then who’s fat?”

“You jerk, I’ll smash you to death with a mallet when I’ve recovered my strength!”

“See, the Jiangs are so violent. Even their daughters use mallets...”

“......” Li Hao started laughing to himself. These guys seemed much more lively after recovering their physical bodies.

Apart from Jiang Yingli, he also knew the names of the other students that he’d resurrected this time. However, Li Hao was a bit confused that the Li Shengzhang who’d previously accompanied Jiang Yingli wasn’t part of this batch.

Had she chosen a body of New Martial?

Though Li Hao was curious, he didn’t ask. Everyone had their own decisions in mind. Perhaps she was waiting for the next batch or wasn’t willing to be resurrected at all?

Who knew!

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He watched as the imperial descendants swiftly cleared acupoints. Their pace was much faster than the troop leaders. Of the latter, the seventh troop leader was also surnamed Jiang, but Jiang Yingli didn’t seem to know him.

The seventh troop leader had bushy eyebrows and distinctive features. At the moment, he kept a very low profile. The troop leaders were clearing acupoints at a noticeably lower pace.

Li Hao frowned slightly and sent his supernatural characters into their bodies after some thought.

“You’re improving at a slightly slower speed. You should be able to cultivate faster if you use my supernatural characters to reach out to the Hao Cosmos for energy!”

“How come we don’t get that treatment?” grumbled Jiang Yingli.

“You guys have astounding potential and were strong enough back in the day. It’s only a matter of time before you hit the limits of the world. You also have a weapon stabilizing your passageway—they do not.”

Fine then, she had nothing to say about that. What the young man said was true.

The Evenround students cleared 180 acupoints in a few hours. They were peak Dominator. If counting the body dao meridian and their attributed meridian, they were already at the Mountain and Sea level.

In contrast, the troop leaders only breached 100 acupoints. The difference between the two sides was immediately clear to see. Li Hao looked at them helplessly.

As expected, even if they started anew, powerhouses improved at a more rapid clip. Thankfully the various troop leaders had years of experience in the army. They were neither proud nor impetuous; they could accept slow improvement. Time was the only factor for their improvement.

Perhaps this was the greatest advantage to having served in the army. It fostered steady, dependable natures that wouldn’t be depressed after temporary setbacks.

Finally, Li Hao looked at Vice Head Qi. Now that was an interesting person!

The vice head didn’t clear acupoints and busied himself with something else while others cultivated furiously, taking advantage of the open passageway to the Hao Cosmos.